


The Beginning

by FeathersMcStrange



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Criminal Minds
Genre: Alternate Universe - SHIELD, Beginnings, Gen, Recruitment, criminal minds au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-12
Updated: 2014-05-12
Packaged: 2018-01-24 13:20:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,078
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1606622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FeathersMcStrange/pseuds/FeathersMcStrange
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Six people have been called by a man in a dark suit to an undisclosed location. A meeting, a proposal, and a new beginning therefollows.</p>
<p>Derek Morgan isn't sure what he's about to do.</p>
<p>But it looks like he's gonna do it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Beginning

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Merry (dariiksnake)](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Merry+%28dariiksnake%29).



> I had to post this here because readmores on tumblr apparently don't work when you're putting them in image descriptions. Shrugs. Who knows.
> 
> Happy birthday to my dearest friend Merry!! I hope it's a good one, darling, you deserve it.
> 
> This could turn into something. Who knows.

They were a mismatched, absurd crew, and nobody had any idea why they had all been called there. Spencer Reid, college TA, working on yet another doctorate. Derek Morgan, Chicago police officer, recently made detective. Emily Prentiss, diplomat's daughter looking to make a career of her own. David Rossi, ex-FBI agent now turned writer. Jennifer Jareau, media liaison between news stations and law enforcement. Penelope Garcia, hacker and all round computer genius.

None of the six of them knew each other, each surveying the others suspiciously. The small room they'd been led to one by one, Penelope first and Dave last, was furnished in cream faux leather seats and tables set up between them. Small lamps were set into the wall beside the chairs, shining a soft glow over the folders on the table. The computer on the wood surface between the two sets of double chairs upon which Derek, Emily, Dave, and JJ sat had an image dimly lighting it's screen. A bird of some sort, an eagle maybe, words circling it like an emblem.

The silence was... awkward. Shuffling papers was interspersed with the occasional clearing of someone's throat or someone else shifting in their chair. Spencer rocked nervously where he sat, Penelope's fingers twiddled with her pen. She glanced up, catching his movement out of the corner of her eyes and smiling at him slightly.

Nothing in the folders made any sense to the other four, who were busy rifling through the contents to try and ascertain the nature of the summons.

People from all walks of life, seemingly nothing in common.

For the life of him, Derek couldn't figure any of it out. He recalled the man who had approached him a week previously, the one with the dark crisp suit and neat appearance, flashing a badge he didn't recognize but that seemed important. The man had said things, things Derek didn't understand, about a world he'd never known existed and quite frankly wasn't sure he believed. Heroes and villains, dimensions beyond their own. Derek Morgan believed in what he could see and touch, and the bird on this man's identification was not any identifying symbol he'd ever seen before.

And yet for whatever reason, skepticism and reluctance taken into consideration, here he was. He had gotten on the plane with the ticket handed to him by the grim man that day, sat beside a chattering kid from Vegas who transferred on in Chicago. It was there he found out that he hadn't been the only one approached by the man with the bird on his badge and mirrored sunglasses obscuring his eyes. The kid – apparently twenty years old, though Derek hadn't pegged him for a day over sixteen – was named Spencer, and was currently sitting across the room. He'd flipped rapidly through his folder once then set it down and hadn't touched it since.

Upon discovering that they had both been called in by the same person, he had also learned several other things about Spencer, including the bit about his eidetic memory, so it wasn't that surprising.

Derek looked from Spencer to the woman in the bright yellow coat with glasses whose frames were the same bright red as her hair. She had given him a smile and a brief wave when he first entered, and he'd decided she seemed like the type of person he could get along with. The other three were more of a mystery, an older man and two women, a blonde and a brunette. The brunette had spoken a few words in a hushed tone to the blonde when they'd first sat down, one right after the other, but it had been too quiet for him to hear. He thought he'd heard her refer to the other woman as 'JJ' but he wasn't sure.

Honestly, he wasn't really sure about any of this. All he'd known was that when the stranger had held out the address and the plane ticket he had accepted, and hadn't looked back since.

Voices outside the room caught Derek's attention, and he looked over sharply. One by one every person in the room lowered their folders and directed their attention to the door. The voices grew closer and closer, until the door opened and three people stepped in. A blonde woman, a man with an eyepatch, and the man who had contacted them.

“I'm glad you all came,” he said, hands folded in front of him and eyes critically examining each of them in turn. When he got to Derek the two of them locked gazes for a second, and the brown eyes staring back at him were cool and calculating, but honest. “I see you've gotten your folders.”

“What's all this about?” Derek spoke up finally, frowning slightly.

“I figured you'd ask that eventually. See, we're in a bit of a bind right now, due to an oversight in personnel. We seem to have encountered a need for a new department. I introduced myself when we met, but I didn't tell you what I did. Supervisory Agent Aaron Hotchener, S.H.I.E.L.D. Profiling Unit. Supernaturally gifted citizens are on the rise, and thanks to that so are killers with abilities the likes of which we've never seen before. You are the best and the brightest, and you've been carefully chosen by myself, Department Chief Erin Strauss, and Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., Nick Fury. If you accept, you'll be trained specially to be the first team of this kind to exist.”

The silence this time was charged, Derek, Spencer, Penelope, Emily, JJ, and Dave all looking from each other, to Aaron and the two people behind him who thus far had stayed silent.

Derek thought about what he had just said, about the things that had happened in the world lately. Stories of a thunder god, and a man in a flying metal suit that shot beams out of it's palms. Monsters and heroes. Things he had only ever read of in story books. And he found that whatever this was, there was a part of him that wanted to be a part of it. He took a deep breath, closing the folder and setting it on the table. He stood and straightened his jacket, now eye to eye with Aaron Hotchner.

“When do I start?”

Aaron's grip was strong and sure as he shook Derek's hand.

“Welcome to S.H.I.E.L.D.”


End file.
